Read Online Being Emily by Anne Donovan - Free Book Online

– looked at the pieces, clipboardsin haund, ticking boxes and scribbling on their sheets. They were judging all the entries from schools in the Glasgow area. The winner would get through to the final with folk fae the other regions in Scotland.
    Miss Mulhern looked at her watch. The adjudicators are giving their decision at twelve, so be back here at five to. You could go and see what the other entries are like, get some ideas .
    Jas whispered in my ear. Let’s go and get a coffee .
    The main foyer was a soulless barn of a place, all plastic and metal with posters advertising concerts for has-been bands at extortionate prices. In one of the other halls there was a craft show, and teams of auld dollies in haund-knitted jumpers and lace-up shoes daundered about, carrying poly bags full of cross-stitch kits. Jas and me sat on a bench, sipping coffee out of paper cups.
    You know, I think I prefer coffee like this. It tastes better than out of real cups .
    Stays hot for longer. But then, paper cups are so bad for the environment .
    Afore I met Jas, I’d never thought much about the environment but it was one of his things. I even knew what he was gonnae say next.
    It’d be so easy to have recycling bins in here .
    He was right, of course, and being with him had made me aware of how folk just chucked stuff out, of the overpackaged products and the way you got handed a poly bag in every shop – I’d even started taking bags to the supermarket mysel. But there was a difference between us. I knew in my heid that throwing a paper cup away was wrong and wasteful, but it actually pained Jas to dae it. I knew that when it was time for us to go back in the hall he’d place the cup in the bingently and a look of distress would cross his foreheid; Jas could feel the hole in the ozone layer growing even by a particle, could sense the tiniest molecule of carbon monoxide sighing into the air.
    I looked at the time on my phone. Ten to.
    Finished?
    Jas nodded, and I took the cup fae him, put it inside mines as if somehow that made it less bad, then threw them in the bin.
    He stood up, held out his haund, and the two of us heided towards the door.
    Everyone expected Jas tae win, of course. He’d always been the golden boy of the class, got the school Art prize every year. His photies were perfect; not only were his composition and technique breathtaking, his work had a way of making you feel as if you were seeing an everyday object for the first time. It was true, shot through with Jas’s directness, his sense of purpose.
    The adjudicators praised his work highly.
    Mature, dynamic … tonal quality … flawless composition. A Cartier-Bresson in the making .
    Everyone clapped. A warm feeling rose inside me.
    Jaswinder attends Burnside High and the school is to be highly commended for the quality of its students’ work. The next entrant, Fiona O’Connell, has not displayed the technical mastery which characterised Jaswinder’s work, but her exhibit, Barbie Bits, is a compelling and ehm … edgy piece of work with an understated violence. She pushes the boundaries of our perception of childhood, of women, and makes us question our assumptions. The juxtaposition of the doll images over the winter scenes is disturbing and the pyre of broken Barbies is a master stroke .
    Jas squeezed my haund. I felt my face flame.
    Now to the part which we adjudicators hate. There has to be a winner and it goes without saying that this was a very difficult decision but we are confident we have made the right one. The competition was set up to reward innovative and risky art as well as technical brilliance. So, in reverse order – third place goes to Paula Mason from Anderston High School .
    A skinny blonde lassie in a navy blazer went up to get her envelope and everyone applauded.
    Second and first place go to pupils of the same school – a tremendous achievement for Burnside High. In second place is Jaswinder Singh, and, for a courageous and innovative